The Daily Lard 12-14-11

Douglas LeeDec 14, 2011 7:20 AM

Good Morning, Broncos fans! I was just about to write how fascinating it was that Alex Marvez is the first writer to point to the fact that Mike McCoy worked under Urban Meyer at Utah (How could it be that everyone missed that one?!), but then I realized there are a couple of problems with that. One, McCoy never worked for Utah, only playing for them from 1992 to 1994. Two, Meyer coached there from 2003 to 2004 while McCoy was coaching quarterbacks for John Fox with the Panthers. Marvez also points out that Tim Tebow threw a pick-six against Detroit but ignores/forgets that a fumble by Tim was returned for a score too. Man, where does Marvez get his facts from? The latter omission is easily excused, but to link McCoy and Meyer after apparently interviewing McCoy in depth is just mind-blowing. Well, he does work for FOX where quality journalism isn't exactly the highest of priorities.

Anyway, the rest of the article is pretty interesting as it talks about McCoy watching college film for inspiration to help him add wrinkles to the Denver offense, and he has apparently consulted with Demaryius Thomas, who played his college ball in Georgia Tech's triple-option offense. At least, that's what Marvez says. It's not a direct quote, which it would appear are the only things we can totally trust are accurate from Marvez, our latest inductee to the Hall of Hackery.

Broncos

Andy Benoit hits up Broncos/Bears in his weekly film review, and he says the key to Tebow & Co. beating the softened Chicago defense late was that Tim was able to avoid the Bears' four-man rush and extend plays with his feet. Benoit also lauds the play of Marcus Thomas and Brodrick Bunkley, and he says the Bears found success running out of three-wide personnel groupings.

In his look at Week 15, Eric Edholm isn't really buying PK's story about Pat Bowlen fighting for Broncos/Pats to be flexed and Robert Kraft taking the other side. Naturally, Edholm is looking forward to seeing what Bill Belichick has in store for Tebow, and he even wonders if Tebow can improve in the same way Brady did early in his career.

Jeff Legwold wants to see the next three games before making any pronouncements about the Broncos, while Woody Paige thinks the winner of Sunday's game is going to the Super Bowl.

Legwold focuses on the contributions of Wesley Woodyard, plus in his notes he says Chris Harris is likely to start at CB if Andre' Goodman can't go.

Vic Lombardi is convinced that Broncos players have been more active within the community thanks to Tebow's influence.

Bill Barnwell and Kevin Braig react to the firings of Handshake Haley and Tony Sparano and see issues much larger than coaching, while Jason Whitlock sees the moves as a prime opportunity to continue railing on Scott Pioli and lay the blame for both organizations' woes at the feet of Bill Parcells.

Jason Cole wonders if Raheem Morris is next to get canned, and he offers thoughts on the comments of Tebow's pastor and Dan Wetzel's column about the same.

tunesmith haven&#8217t you said the same thing every week since the Lions loss&#8230

The Broncos have played well against the feared passing game of the Patriots and I don&#8217t see this game as being to much different. The Broncos have to do what they do best, ground and pound&#8230

Posted by bfree2bronc on 2011-12-14 22:38:21

I dunno, I&#8217ve seen this game as a Broncos loss at basically every moment during this win streak. I&#8217m more curious how the Broncos will respond to the loss in Buffalo - that game scares me a bit.

It&#8217d of course be totally groovy if the Broncos pull this off, but right now I don&#8217t see it. Our defense just isn&#8217t very good against good quarterbacks - any quarterback that can make a quick accurate read is basically murder for us. People forget that even against Detroit, Tebow didn&#8217t start playing badly until the game&#8217s outcome was no longer in doubt. His first half was really not bad, but defensively we were lousy.

Personally I see this as a tough one for the Broncos, worried about covering and tackling Gronkowski, especially if Goodman is out (though Harris is capable), and Belichick&#8217s scheming, and mostly worried about they&#8217re being &#8220beyond due&#8221... but it is definitely winnable. I agree the Pats&#8217 D is vulnerable. Would not be surprised to see a high scoring affair.

Btw, one of you IAOFM guys should feel free to gently correct Marvez on his poor research (re McCoy), he&#8217s on twitter at @alexmarvez <img alt="wink" height="19" src="http://www.singernet.com/images/smileys/wink.gif" style="border:0;" width="19">

Posted by underdog on 2011-12-14 18:54:27

&#8220Woody has definitely hitched his wagon up to the Tebow train.&#8221 Nawwwww!! You&#8217re kidding! You mean, Woody is finally on the Tebow wagon?

lol - I&#8217m not mocking you, Alan. I&#8217m mocking Woody. He and Skip Bayless, with their respective man-crushes, might have had a hand in turning a lot of people off on Tebow.

While I don&#8217t agree with you about FOX News (which, of course, belongs in a different forum), the gaff by Marvez is mind-boggling. Did he sleep through his interview with McCoy?

Thanks for the link to Letterman&#8217s Top 10 with RG III. That was hilarious.

I&#8217m happy for Pears, that he apparently has finally got it going. He seemed one of the nicer guys when he was with the Broncos.

Regarding the Pats, I may be nuts, but I don&#8217t see them beating the Broncos. Their defense isn&#8217t near what the Broncos have seen recently, and Brady gets frustrated under intense pressure, and with Doom and Von, and the advent of D.J., that is what is shaping the Broncos&#8217 identity that they&#8217ve been looking for. The Pats will score a few points, but I just don&#8217t believe they have the defense to hold the Broncos to the types of scores we have seen the past few games.

Anyway, we&#8217ll see, of course. I do believe this game will reveal to us more about how good this team really is.

That was where Mike McCoy said, from his own mouth even!!!, that he was getting help JJ and DT and Tim to help add wrinkles to the offense. There is a lot more in there that makes it a must watch in my opinion

Posted by SpaceCowboy on 2011-12-14 14:31:47

Woody has definitely hitched his wagon up to the Tebow train. While New England has a chance to go to the Super Bowl, this is not Denver&#8217s year&#8230yet. We&#8217ve got some deficiencies we&#8217ve been able to cover up to this point, but they will be exposed against playoff teams.

Posted by Alan_Smithee on 2011-12-14 14:27:49

Thanks again for the Lard, Doug. Might want to link to our old friend Nate Jackson&#8217s NYT piece: